AUSTIN — Impatient with the Justice Department review of Texas' new voter identification law, state Attorney General Greg Abbott asked a federal court Monday to approve the measure.

Republican lawmakers passed legislation last year requiring voters to show a photo ID such as a driver's license before voting. Texas must show that the law does not impose an unfair impact on minorities because of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which applies to Texas and several other Southern states with histories of discrimination against minorities.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that voter identification laws are constitutional,” Abbott said. “Texas should be allowed the same authority other states have to protect the integrity of elections. To fast-track that authority, Texas is taking legal action in a D.C. court, seeking approval of its voter identification law.”

The Justice Department has asked Texas for data about the number of Hispanic and African American registered voters who lack state driver's licenses. The state does not keep accurate statistics and has warned federal officials that data provided last week are not reliable.

Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court found an Indiana voter ID law constitutional, but that state does not have to gain preclearance, as Texas does.

Abbott appeared to send a warning shot regarding the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act provision.

“Section 5, if interpreted to forbid Texas to enforce its Voter ID law, violates constitutional principles of federalism and state sovereignty by depriving Texas of equal sovereignty with other states,” Abbott said in his petition. “The court must interpret Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to permit preclearance of Senate Bill 14 in order to avoid the grave constitutional question whether Section 5 violates the 10th Amendment.”

“Unfortunately, Texas has a terrible history of discriminating against African Americans and Hispanics. If that makes Texas any less of a sovereign, opposed to a state like Indiana, I think all Texans would agree that we wish we didn't have that history,” said Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio.

Voter ID supporters say the law is necessary to assure ballot security and honest elections.

Critics say there is no evidence of voter impersonation at the polls, and they contend that the legislation aims to suppress voting of minorities and young Texans. The law does not allow a student ID card issued by a state university to be used for voting.

A recent Brennan Center For Justice report estimated that 207,000 African Americans, 33,000 Asian Americans and 237,000 Latinos of voting age in Texas do not have government-issued photo ID.

The law requires either a DPS driver's license, a U.S. passport, a military ID, a Texas concealed handgun permit or a DPS ID card for voting. The law provides free DPS election ID cards for Texans who can get to a DPS office. But there are 34 Texas counties without a DPS office and 46 additional counties where the DPS office has been closed, with no timetable for reopening, according to an Advancement Project report.